Fruit crusher



July 24, 1923. 11.4mm

I P. C. DE LUCA ET AL FRUIT CRUSHER Original File g pne 25. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet x j W E0 i limewwm Peter C'-.Z7eLucQ M [Men Liam /1 6 44465;, 40M gg July 24, 1923. v 11,462,803

P. c. DE LUCA ET AL FRUIT CRUS HER Original Filed June 25. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 as: 3% 3i Z7ZW6 Warm Peter C .Z7e L um Ma Mew L. fnsqy m. 3 4M fiM @zw Fm'a ZZfifiwwweyw Patented July 24, 1923.

urrso sra'rss P AT i; FFi Q E PETER C. DE LUCA AND MATTHEW L. INSOGNA, OF DOBGI-IESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, .ASSIGNORS TO CORONA MACHINE COMPANY, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, A

GORZEORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FRUIT CRUSHER.

Application filed June 25, 1921, Serial No. 480,341. Renewed May 7, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we PETER C. DE LUCA and MATTHEW L. INsocNA, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Dorchester, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fruit Crushers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for crushing fruits, vegetables and the like and more particularly to a portable and manually operable device of this character adapted to be mounted directly upon the top of a convenient receptacle.

In devices of this general character as heretofore designed, little attention has ap parently been paid to the proper shapes or arrangement of the crushing elements, or the mode of supporting the same, resulting in inefliciency in operation, unnecessary weight and an unwarranted consumption of power. One object ofthe present invention is to so improve certain of the crushing or grinding elements of the device as to assure. a thorough and uniform crushing of the material while at the same time materially decreasing the weight and cost of the moving parts and lessening the effort required to operate the device.

In the crushing of fruit and other vegetable products, it frequently happens that stems, twigs or other woody or fibrous substances are inadvertently included in the material presented to the crushing devices. This always occasions difficulty of operation, and if sufficient force be applied to continue the movement of the parts, the device may be broken or otherwise rendered inoperative. A further object of the invention is to provide means associated with the crushing elements whereby such woody or fibrous matter may be cut into pieces sufliciently small to permit of their ready passage through the apparatus. When fixed and movable crushing elements are employed, it is very desirable to so arrange one of suchelements as that it may be adjusted relatively to the other, thus not only permitting of the taking up of wear but providing for the relative adjustment of the parts in accordance with the character of the material to be operated upon. It is also desir able to beable to secure the device as a whole firmly to the top of a suitable receptacle suchfor example as a barrel or tub, while at the same time permitting the ready removal of the same at the conclusion of the crushing operation. The present invention has for further objects the provision of suitable means for permitting the adjustment of the crushing roll and also for securing of the device in a firm but temporary manner to the top of a suitable receptacle. As one embodiment of means for carrying into effect the above objects, that disclosed in the accompanying drawings is preferred, and in which drawings,

Fig. l is a front elevation of the device showing the same as mounted upon a suitable receptacle;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal section on the line a-b of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4L is a fragmentary vertical cross section. to larger scale, on the line ccZ of Fig. 2: and

Fig. 5 is a plan view to enlarged scale of one of the removable crushing elements employed with the device.

A substantially rectangular box-like casing 1. which may. if desired, be formed as a casting. is provided with horizontally extending flanges 2. 3 at its opposite ends. These flanges are provided with openings for the reception of securing bolts such as 4., 5. whereby the flanges are attached to a pair of supporting bars 6, 7, respectively. The bars 6, 7 are preferably provided with down-turned extremities, as indicated at 8 9. and. if desired such extremities may be provided with threaded openings for the reception of wing-bolts such as 10. The bars 6, 7 serve as supports whereby the easing 1. may be mounted upon a suitable receptacle such as the barrel indicated at A, the down-turned portions 8. 9 of such supports serving to prevent the slipping of the supports from the top of the barrel or recep tacle and the bolts or set-screws 10 may be employed for firmly retaining such supports in position if desired. The casing 10 is provided with a longitudinal opening 11 at its bottom. and extending along either side of said opening are a series of downwardly and inwardly inclined fixed fingers such as 12,13. n

. Extending upwardly from the flanges 2, 3

of the casing 1 are pairs of posts 14, 15, 16, 17, respectively, such posts being provided upon their inner sides with guiding ribs 18....

The ribs 18 serve for the guidance of bearing bloeks 19, 20, respectively, such blocks being provided with vertical grooves in their opposite faces with which opposed ribs engage, the blocks thus being capable of vertical adjustment as respects the flanges. Beneath each of the bearing blocks is placed a coil spring 20 seated upon an upstanding lug 21. Each of the bearing blocks is provided with internal openings, in which openings is journalled a shaft 26 having a crank arm 27 provided with a handle 28. For retaining the bearing blocks in adjusted position, bridge pieces 22 23 are secured across the tops of the respective pairs of posts, as by means of bolts 2%, and passing through central openings in such bridge pieces are adjustable stop screws 25. By manipulating suchstop screws. the position of the bearing blocks together with the shaft mounted therein may be varied in a vertical direction.

Mounted upon the shaft 26 and within the casing 1 is a crushing roller comprising a pair of sleeve members 29, 29, having secured thereto or integral therewith the disk members 30, 30, respectively. The disk members are preferably perforated for the sake of lightness, and are provided on their opposed faces with concentric ridges 31 defining annular grooves 31 for the reception of removable plates such as indicated at 32 in Fig. 5. These plates are of substantially rectangular form and of a length to extend from one of the disks to the other, and in cross section form segments of a cylindrical surface as indicated in Fig. 4:. These plates are of such width that when a plurality thereof are assembled in the grooves 31, such assemblage forms a substantially continuous cylindrical surface. In assembling the device, the opposite ends of the several plates 32 are inserted in the grooves in the disks as 30, 30. respectively, and the, roller is mounted in the casing. the shaft 26 passing through the bearing epenihgs in thebearing blocks and through the sleeves 29. 29 of the roller.

One or both of the disk members may be secured to the shaft by means of a screw or bblt insertible through one of the openin the disk, and engaging a. threaded opening in the correspondingsleeve member.

Each of the plates 32 is provided with a series of outstanding lugs or teeth preferahly in the form of pyramids. These lugs are herein indicated as arranged in three parallel rows, although it is evident that a different number of rows of lugs might be prbvided without departing from the spirit of'the invention. I In accordance with the preferred arrahgement, the'liigs of the outer rows are arranged alternately in such fashion that the sides of the bases of adj a cent lugs 33, 34 lie at substantially 45 inclination one to the other. The central row of lugs may be substantially similar to the outer rows hut in the preferred arrangement, such inner row consists of pyramidal lugs arranged like the lugs 34 of the outer rows and having interposed therebetween, lugs of elliptical or preferably lenticular cross section, the narrow edges of such lugs lying in the plane of rotation.. Preferably such elliptical or lenticular lugs are of a greater height than the lugs of pyramidal form and, if desired, such longer lugs may have sharpened edges.

Mounted upon the upper edge of the casing 1 as by means of bolts l vis a hopper 37, such hopper being formed of sheet metal or other suitable material. The side faces 38. 39 of this hopper may extend continuously from the top thereof substantially to the bottom hf the casing 1 or to that part of such casing from which the fingers 12. 13 project. The end faces 40, 41 of the hopper, however,- are preferably arranged as indicated in Fig. 2, wherein the lower portions e2, 43 of such faces are shown as more nearly perpendicular but as sprung inwardly to engage the respective ends of the roller; The purpose of so arranging such end faces of the hopper is to provide sufficientspace below the same to permit the manual adjustment of the shaft bearings and also to form. a close joint between the end of the roller and the hopper whereby to avoid the entry of the material th'erebetween. 7

In the use of this device, the supports 6; 7 having been mounted upon a barrel or other suitable receptacle, fruit or other vegetable substance is placed in the hopper, and. upon manipulation of the crank handle 28. the hollow roller comprising the plates 32 is revolved, whereby the fruit or other material is caught between the teeth 33, 34 of the plates 32- and. the fingers 12, 13 of the casing 1 and is very thoroughly cut and crushed. It will. be noted that by reason of the arrangement of the teeth 33, 34 of the plates 32, certain of these teeth present their corners in the plane of rotation whereby to cut the material. while the alternate teeth present flat surfaces in the direction of rotation which serve to mash the material. As the material to be operated on frequently contains woody or fibrous substances such as stems, leaves or the like, the teeth or lugs 35 have been provided, such teeth being relatively sharp and long as compared with the teeth 33,3 1, and serving to cut or break such woody or fibrous material, thus permitting the operation of the device. with much. less effort on the part of the operator than were the teeth 33, 3a depended upon entirely for disintegrating the material operated upon. The device thus produced is light in weight, inexpensive to manufacture, readily portable, provides very efficient means for the purpose intended, and is easily repaired when worn or broken. It is also clear that by manipulation of the adjusting screws 25 the height of the shaft 26 may be varied relative to the casing 1 and thus the apparatus may be adapted for operating upon ma: terial of variant character, it being evident that adjustment of the shaft. serves to change the relation between the crushing rOll and the fixed fingers 12, 13.

Having thus described the invention in a preferred embodiment of the same, together with the mode of use thereof, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A crusher roll comprising a member having a plurality of substantially pyramidal teeth projecting therefrom, alternate teeth being turned at substantially ninety degrees to the teeth next adjacent thereto.

2. A crusher roll comprising a member having a plurality of substantially pyramidal teeth projecting therefrom, adjacent ones of said teeth being turned to angularly displace their. edges.

8. A crusher roll comprising a substantially rectangular plate having a transversely curved face, a series of angular teeth projecting from such curved face, and cutter members interposed between certain of said teeth.

4%. A crusher member comprising a series of angular crushing teeth and cutting elements interposed between certain of said teeth, said cutting elements being of substantially lenticular cross section.

5. A rotatable crusher roll comprising a member having a plurality of rows of projecting pyramidal teeth, alternate teeth presenting their sides and corners respectively in advance in the direction of rotation, and cutter devices interposed between teeth in certain of said rows, said cutter devices comprising teeth of a height greater than said pyramidal teeth and of substantially lenticular cross section, the plane of the cutting edges of said teeth being perpendicular to the axis of the roll.

6. A crusher comprising a hopper having a discharge opening, a series of crusher fingers projecting from opposite sides of said opening, a crusher roll having teeth cooperating with said fingers, and means for varying the clearance between said fingers and said teeth.

7 A portable crusher comprising a hopper having a discharge opening, a series of crusher fingers projecting from opposite sides of said opening, and a crusher roll having teeth cooperating with said fingers, said roll being adjustable relative to said fingers.

8. A portab-le crusher comprising a hop per having a discharge opening, a series of crusher fingers projecting from opposite edges of said opening, vertically disposed guides at opposite ends of said hopper, journal blocks slidable along said guides, a shaft journalled in said blocks, a crusher roll mounted upon said shaft and cooperating with said fingers, spring means for supporting said journal blocks, and means for limiting the upward movement of said blocks.

9. A portable crusher comp-rising a substantially rectangular casing having a pas sage therethrough, a series of spaced fingers projecting outwardly from the casing and into the passage, a flange projecting outwardly from the casing, a hopper secured to said flange, vertically disposed guide-ways at opposite ends of the casing, journal bearings slidable in said guideways, a shaft journalled in said bearings, and a crusher roll fast to said shaft and having teeth cooperable with said fingers.

10. In a portable crusher device a substantially rectangular casing, 21 crusher roll, adjustable journal means for said roll arranged at the opposite ends of said casing, adjusting means for said journals, and a rectangular hopper having a top opening of greater width and length than the casing and provided with downwardly converging walls, said hopper being mounted upon the upper portion of the casing, the end walls of the hopper being so constructed'and arranged as to provide a clearance space for said journal adjusting means.

11. A crusher comprising a hopper having a discharge opening, and crusher means adjacent said opening, said hopper having portions yieldingly engaging said means to prevent material from escaping the crush ing operation.

12. A crusher comprising a hopper having a discharge opening, a crusher roll mounted adjacent said opening, said hopper having portions yieldingly engaging said. roll to prevent material from escaping the crushing operation.

13. A crusher comprising a hopper having a discharge opening, a crusher roll having plane end faces adjustably mounted adjacent said opening, said hopper having portions yieldingly engaging said end faces to maintain a tight joint therebetween in any adjusted position of said roll.

Signed by us at Boston, Massachusetts, this 13th day of May, 1921.

PETER C. DE LUCA. MATTHEW L. INSOGNA. 

